Tony Spears, QMI Agency

Nazir Karigar, 67, had tried ─ and failed ─ to finagle the lucrative contract to supply Air India with his company's facial recognition software in 2006 and 2007.

Karigar blew the whistle on himself, dishing details of the scheme to United States lawmen after falling out with his co-conspirators and had hoped for immunity.

Instead it was the company's vice-president ─ a man found to be "intimately involved" in the plot ─ who got a free pass by testifying against Karigar at trial.

"Any person who proposes to enter into a sophisticated scheme to bribe foreign public officials ... must appreciate that they will face a significant sentence of incarceration," Judge Charles Hackland said in his decision.

Karigar was convicted in August under the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act for having offered a bribe to a foreign official.

It was the first such case to go to trial ─ Hackland said three other corporate had entered guilty pleas in unrelated matters and were fined ─ so the Karigar decision will guide courts sentencing future offenders.